I think I read a post somewhere, saying that Nissan had cheaped-out on later-model EVSEs, and started using thinner wire gauge from the J1772 to the EVSE. Does anyone recall if that's correct, and what year?

My J1772 cable (from 2017 Leaf) gets pretty warm, just charging at 12A... warm enough to melt through ice. If the ice re-freezes, then you end-up with a J1772 cable under a quarter-inch of ice, and it's very hard to get the cable free without using an ice chipper.

It was 2015 model year that Nissan cheaped out and switched to 14 gauge wire(note not as bad as some other mfgs. that use 16g J1772 wire!) but none the less doing so EVSEupgrade was no longer able to make the upgrade to 20a but had to max out at 16a(maximum rating for 14g wire). Note 16g wire is capable of 12a or what some EVSEs top out at but due to heat loss, the smaller the gauge(even if still within the maximum limits) the less efficient it is. Personally, I don't want to waste electricity heating up the already too warm earth http://evseupgrade.com/?main_page=index ... v5si1snio7

I'm not a EE, but it seems to me that one of the important safety considerations for wire choice is flexibility (or whatever the precise term for resistance to damage due to flexing). Since a charging cable needs to be able to withstand what may be considerable flexing over time, a thinner multi-strand wire should maintain its integrity longer than a thicker one subjected to the same usage abuse. In any case, I recommend everyone treat (any) cable subject to flexing during normal use with appropriate due care.

Flexibility is more related to the gauge of the individual strands of wire that make up the total wire. IOW a cheap wire will have very few strands but each strand will be thick, a better more flexible option would be very fine strands but very many of them. Of course if you live in colder climates like mine, the material of the jacket makes a big difference. A more rubbery jacked will remain flexible even in sub zero(F) temps while a vinyl or plasticy jacket will start getting stiff as it gets below about 40f and become basically worthless below zero F.

Remember that an EVSE that is designed to be "portable", i.e. capable of being stuffed (preferably carefully coiled!) into a smallish bag (and again and again and again!) and relatively light-weight has to be designed differently than non-portable EVSEs. It makes much more sense to make comparisons of this EVSE with other portable EVSEs -- or at least point out if a comparison EVSE is not portable.

If you intend to mount an EVSE permanently, say on a wall, then it is better (safer) to buy an EVSE designed for that purpose -- and to have it DIRECT WIRED! If you have two Leafs but not the electrical capacity to charge them both at the same time, then a reasonable solution might be having two differently located 14-50R receptacles (together with an EVSE holder underneath like the one that comes with this EVSE) and alternating this portable EVSE between the two of them for charging each Leaf (rather than moving each Leaf to the single EVSE charging point). Make sure that you follow 2017 NEC code and have a GFCI breaker for each circuit!

BTW Clipper Creek is currently one of the few EVSE vendors that sell an EVSE (having their Share2 option) that can be paired with another similar one in which a communication wire runs between them for the purpose allowing only one charge at a time -- great for houses with electrical service only sufficient for a single charging session. Note: Unfortunately, I believe that this option currently can't be added to an existing CC EVSE.